


Center Stage

by ZodiacBiologist



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Acceptance, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Anger, Angst, Anxiety, Bargaining, Character Death, Denial, Depression, Family, Five Stages of Grief, Fluff, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26075338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZodiacBiologist/pseuds/ZodiacBiologist
Summary: Douxie was used to being center stage; He did have a band after all.This, however, was not a stage he was prepared to perform on. The roaring crowd was no more than the condolences of his friend, the music coming now in the form of grief.More specifically, the stage he was performing on right now was 'Denial' and, according to Claire, it was the first of five.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 95





	Center Stage

**Author's Note:**

> If I forgot any warnings, please let me know! This fic is basically Douxie going through the Five Stages of Grief after Merlin's death. 
> 
> Enjoy and thanks for reading!
> 
> Disclaimers: I own nothing.

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.

Douxie was used to being center stage; He did have a band after all. Sure, he still felt performance anxiety as he emerged from backstage, but it never lasted long. The roar of the crowd always helped him get lost in the music, a sort of high taking his anxiety's place. 

This, however, was not a stage he was prepared to perform on. The roaring crowd was no more than the condolences of his friend, the music coming now in the form of grief.

More specifically, the stage he was performing on right now was 'Denial' and, according to Claire, it was the first of five. 

In the nine centuries Douxie had been alive, he had never heard something so stupid. Grief didn't come in stages and it certainly didn't come when your immortal mentor finally died. Merlin lived a long, long life and Douxie hadn't even seen him for part of it. Hell, Merlin being dead had absolutely no immediate effect on his charge; Bills still needed to be paid and Arcadia still needed a protector. 

Merlin didn't sign Douxie's checks. 

"Really, if you need anything…" Claire offered softly, resting her hand on top of her friend's. 

"I'm fine, Claire, I promise." Douxie flipped his hand over to give her hand a reassuring squeeze before letting go. 

It wasn't an entire lie, he was fine...for now. 

With life humming along as usual (as usual as it could get for a wizard) Douxie found the initial shock of Merlin's death fading as fast as it had come on. For a few weeks, life was good with New York offering a plethora of distractions, so many distractions, in fact, that the second stage was able to sneak up on the young wizard. 

One of the people he actually missed quite a bit now that he was so far from Arcadia was Zoe and the inability to step outside his old shop and see her was starting to get on his nerves. There was a Hex Tech branch in the city that only served as a reminder that she wasn't close by; Douxie meant to bring up the suggestion of a transfer during one of their weekly phone calls, actually. 

However, Zoe didn't feel like talking about work when the Anger stage decided to take over. 

"Nari says you haven't been sleeping. Don't make me come out there and-" Zoe's normal scolding would have put the biggest smile on Douxie's face as it was the only bit of normalcy he could get. However, today it only made an already bad day worse. 

"Why are you and Nari talking about me?" Douxie momentarily hoped that the sentence hadn't sounded nearly as nasty as he thought it did. 

Based on the huff on the other end, though, it did.

"Doux, she's just- we're just worried about you, okay? I know you say you're okay, but-"

"God damn! Can we get through ONE conversation without someone asking me if I'm okay!? He's dead! I get it! I am FINE!" Douxie snapped, the frustration causing his voice to shake. 

Without too much thought, Douxie ended the call, then tossed his phone into the nearest corner, a much needed walk already in order. 

After that incident, Douxie found himself answering his phone less and less. Occasionally he would respond to a gif Steve had sent, just to prove he was alive, but mostly, his phone stayed at home or was turned off. It was fine, though, as conversations with himself were far more interesting. With Archie curled up on his chest, Douxie would settle down on the couch, thinking up all sorts of new plans in his head; At least in his own mind, nobody asked if he was okay.

What his mind did ask, though, was 'What if?'. What if there was one more outcome he hadn't seen when he looked into the future? Was it at all possible that, while things just happened to work out, that there was another way for things to be better? Maybe all it would take was ONE more trip to the past? Nari was good now! And maybe she could revive him...Maybe, if- 

Right...Claire called this sort of thinking 'bargaining'. All the 'what ifs' and different outcomes just weren't going to happen and he needed to accept that. There would be no trip to the past and there wasn't a body left for Nari to bring back to life. 

Closing his eyes, Douxie felt the fourth stage slip in along with his nap.

Depression clawed its way out of his chest with a vengeance. The will to do anything, even breath, had been completely snuffed out. His master...Merlin...was never coming back. After several centuries of knowing he could spring up at any moment (or send a raven or text), Douxie began to understand that those days were over, as were the days of getting out of bed. 

A chill wracked his frame, but the boy couldn't find it in himself to pull the blankets up any higher. Normally Archie would have fixed the blanket for him, but the young wizard had sent the cat out of his room, claiming he needed to be alone for awhile. Any remaining energy was directed to making sure he didn't let himself cry, knowing all too well that, once he started, there would be no stopping it. 

Nari would enter the room every few hours at Archie's request (as the boy couldn't seem to find it in himself to ask her to leave) and lightly tap her nose against Douxie's. While she didn't need to do this to read his soul, she didn't it anyway, sensing the tiny bit of happiness it brought to her friend. However, the overwhelming turmoil she felt along with it made the nymph nervous. 

She had sensed these emotions before, back when the Arcane Order was still- 

"No human should feel such pain…" Nari noted, resting her hand on her friend's face. The boy blinked lazily back at her, a vacancy in his eyes.

Nari didn't know too much about humans, but she did know about emotions; They seemed to be the same for just about any living creator. When she had felt this way upon leaving the Order, it often helped to-

"Archie," Nari knelt beside the cat, who had been pacing nervously outside the room, "Could you show me how to use the phone again?"

After a short phone call, stage five had been set. The performers took their places about Douxie's room with Claire making the first move to set her hand on top of her friend's. Archie and Zoe moved next, with Archie effortlessly slipping between his associate's arms and Zoe resting her head on Douxie's shoulder. Jim, Steve, and Toby sat on the edge of his bed and Nari and Krel took to nearby chairs. 

Maybe he couldn't expect Merlin to come around anymore, but that didn't mean Douxie was without a family. 

"What stage is this?" The wizard asked, eyes trained on the wall in front of him. While he was willing to talk with his friends, he wasn't quite ready to look at them yet. 

Claire squeezed his hand softly, "This is still depression, Teach...but we're going to help you get to acceptance." 

That's right. There always was always practice in between shows and while Douxie wasn't quite ready for the next stage he was set to perform on, he definitely had the support he'd need for when he got there.


End file.
